Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of capacity of the UK manufacturing sector to produce electric heavy goods vehicles.

Figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), showed the UK manufactured 78,270 commercial vehicles in 2019; 18,420 of these were Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) manufactured by Leyland Trucks.

Alongside industry, we have committed approximately £1 billion over 10 years up until 2023. With this funding, the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) will research, develop, and commercialise the next generation of low carbon technologies to keep the UK at the cutting edge of low carbon automotive innovations.

The Government continues to work alongside industry to unlock the significant opportunity to support the electrification of the HGV sector through the Faraday Battery Challenge and Driving the Electric Revolution.